Emma Goto

A book about 3 witches across different time periods who have some form of magical abilities. Touches on abuse themes as well. I didn't really vibe with this one, it's not really quite fantasy-themed (more like regular-life but with magic on the side) and the plot felt pretty simplistic.

Interesting sci-fi book, the concept is good but also quite short and the payoff didn't feel that satisfying as you can sort of see the twist coming. 3.5 stars

The romance was way too cringe and I tried to skip past that for the dragons.. but I wasn't a big fan of the plot either.

Surprised this has under 4 stars on Goodreads but this is some good shit!

The story follows some billionaires who own companies that have a lot of influence on the world (think Amazon on steroids) and how they're able to use their tech to predict and avoid an impending apocalypse. Obviously they're not likeable people so the story also follows some hackers that try and undermine their plans to get them to use their influence for good.

Picked it up because it won the Pulitzer Prize. It's a little bit of a confusing setup with 4 parts (a novel within a novel, the main story itself, a memoir and finally some diary entries?) and the plot is interesting but at the same time I'm not really a fan of how it was structured.

About a guy who ends up in a gay relationship while cheating on his girlfriend. Kind of melancholy (tbh really melancholy) but good at the same time?

A story about a girl kidnapped from her Native American family and raised by white parents, as well as the anguish of her family she leaves behind.

It's a pretty compelling plot line although I didn't find myself super awed after finishing it, hence the 4 stars.

It's good but it's also about the opioid epidemic in rural America so pretty depressing at the same time.

About a serial killer, so kind of disturbing to read??

About a lady's relationship with the octopus at the aquarium that she helps clean. Quite a heart warming book.

“Prince falls for his bodyguard” kind of romance but there's a decent enough plotline with some politics thrown in. The characters were all fairly flawed which was sometimes a little bit annoying, but more realistic too.

Sort of like an alternative history British empire where they gain their power through magic that's powered by translation (hence the name Babel).

It felt a bit weird though, like the book was shitting on the British empire (and rightly so) but via the alternate magic history version of the British empire.. like why though. Just shit on it directly or not at all thanks

A short and sweet romance book about an apartment that takes you 7 years into the past. Fairly straightforward plot but cute enough.

I guess this book is about becoming a woman? Or wanting to become a mother? Kind of hard to sum up. It also had some slightly surrealist, Murakami vibes - which makes me wonder is that because it is similar, or do Japanese books translated to English generally end up like this?

Also interesting to note is that the original book was written in Kansai-ben (a more rough-sounding Japanese dialect) but the book hasn't made any attempt to translate that and has done it purely in standard English. Which makes me wonder how different the experience would be if you read it in Japanese.

A girl ends up working for a dude in a spooky haunted house.

I don't want to give this a 3 because it's objectively not badly written, but I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone either? 3.5/5

Ex-doctor's flippant and fairly crude diary of what it's like working for the NHS. It takes a depressing turn in in the last 5 pages as he explains how he left the job after the (unavoidable) death of a patient.

I understand he's probably used humour to deal with what is a very shitty job, but I wasn't really vibing with it.

Less of a productivity/self-help book and more of an author's musings on how there is no such thing as peak productivity, and as much as you want to try for it and reach that feeling of fulfilment, you're just gonna try for the rest of your life and never really reach there (lol).

Pretty interesting plot line, quick and easy read about a lady that starts a podcast with a seemingly normal lady which inadvertently turns into a true crime podcast.

I had assumed this book was about what it's like to be an Asian American so I didn't think I would relate too much, but the author is actually half white/half Korean, and as a fellow half-Asian I feel so seen

Read this one because I enjoyed the Netflix adaption (which was sort of Pride and Prejudice vibes but more horny). But in the book version, the male lead definitely isn't a Mr Darcy :( definitely very explicit for a 100 year old book, I can see why it was banned!

3.5 stars

I get that even though he's a prince, it doesn't automatically mean he's gonna have a happy life... but even so reading a book about him complaining about how his life was hard just felt really cringey. There's a lot of little jabs and accusations towards his family as well which is really something you can't walk back after the fact. Kinda sad and makes me wish he could have taken the high road in this situation.

I don't know if I want to give this a 4, it's not bad but it also took me over a month to finish reading it, so I kept forgetting the plot and what was happening so it was all a mess in my mind each time I picked the book back up!

YA fantasy book about two rival journalists in a wartime setting. Honestly not bad, ends on a huge cliffhanger though!

This is definitely very YA complete with the chosen one/underdog/love triangle tropes but it has DRAGONS so I let it slide a little bit. Honestly the romance is the worst part about this whole thing too which sucks.

Like all of Murakami's books, there's an uncomfortable level of how young female characters are sexualised and this book is definitely more on the uncomfy end with its plot points, but I guess with its surrealist tone it still sort of works and is an entertaining read.